Program Overview
“Before you can think out of the box, you have to start with a box”
― Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
Dear DAG program families,
We appreciate joining the DAG crew with your child’s dance training. Myself, my husband, Hernan, as well as our main faculty teachers have laid out a great program. In addition, to this program overview letter, our website page has posted specific instructions and information for your child. Please
Our BODY, our tool, our technique is the BOX. Ballet serves as our mainstay, rooted in years of tradition that anchor us and provide a system from which the body organizes itself. This tradition equips us with the tools of alignment, placement, musicality, technical skills, and dynamics. It’s important that this vocabulary is age-appropriate.
Physical intelligence and endurance are integral parts of the journey! You must SWEAT! Expect exhaustion, expect sore muscles. Embrace it, for through this training, you build character. We aim for our students to learn to embrace and navigate the physical demands of dance.
Alonzo King said, “When your body gets tired, the mind needs to participate more. Or the spirit needs to participate more. You know, there is the Triumphant of Body, Mind & Spirit. The hierarchy being spirit at top, mind over body, and how they all work together, and sometimes one is tired so the other one comes to the forward.”
We aspire for our students to be brave and motivated thinkers. We encourage them to cultivate a desire for learning driven by love, rather than seeking quick fixes or tricks. Trust the process. In a world where the younger generation seeks instant results, ballet teaches us that excellence requires patience, care, and guidance.
We’ll delve into ourselves—our strengths, weaknesses, and habits. We’ll examine dance as creators, studying our own work and that of our peers and renowned choreographers.
Writing plays a key role in this process. Journaling helps students refine their mental skills. Our curriculum ensures a balance, incorporating scheduled rest and time for introspection and reflection.
As Samuel Beckett said, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
